Recurring Nightmare
by SaintAbsol
Summary: Nightmare Moon is defeated and Princess Luna is redeemed; the Elements of Harmony have saved Equestria from eternal night; all is as it should be.  Yet doubt still linger's in the mind of one unicorn; and that may be the one thing that can save them all.
1. Prologue: Doubt

Twilight Sparkle sighed, her eyes barely focused as she tried to read the tome in front of her. The light of Luna's full moon shone brightly through one of her windows, and the addition of a candle provided just enough extra light for her to see, but not enough to wake Spike with it's brightness. Despite what he would sometimes protest, she really did have his best interests at heart- and baby dragons needed their sleep as much as an other babies.

"Hoo!"

"Shh!" The Unicorn quickly hushed Owlowicious, not wanting his nocturnal habits to awaken her friend either. "I can't afford to have him know about this." She whispered back, her violet eyes darting to make sure he was still asleep. "I can't have anyone knowing about this."

"Hoo?" Though it was much quieter this time, Twilight could hear the question in the sound the owl made and sighed.

"I know, I know." She said, knowing that- even if there was evidence that he could understand her- she was mostly using him to talk out her own issues. "I shouldn't keep secrets from my friends." She bit her lip, "it's just... I don't know if this is right."

"Hoo?"

"I've gone over all the lore, all the tales, all the legends; I've even asked Princess Celestia for history books that were printed centuries ago. It's not adding up; not even close."

"..hoo." The owl was outright glaring at her now, his face surprisingly good at displaying some frustration over her vagueness at the moment.

The purple unicorn sighed, then yawned; in her tired state, she wasn't really thinking straight. She'd forgotten that, even if she couldn't understand him, Owlowicious could understand her- he wanted to know just what she was talking about. Not to mention that he didn't like being treated like an inanimate object. "I'm sorry." She said at last, actually addressing him now and not just talking at him. "I've just been at this for weeks now and I don't have an answers." Her head hit the book she'd been looking through as she felt her mind trying to pull her into sleep- but Owlowicious still needed answers. "Just promise me you'll keep this from Spike and the others."

The owl simply nodded, no need to 'hoo' when he didn't have to.

"I think Nightmare Moon is still out there."

"Hoo?" This time, ironically enough, it was meant exactly as it sounded.

"Huh? Oh, right; you weren't there." Though she wanted to sigh yet again at having to explain this, Twilight simply couldn't find the energy to do it. "A thousand years ago, Princesses Celestia and Luna created the Sun and Moon respectively. For a while, things went as you'd expect; but Luna started to get jealous of all the attention that the day was getting; it wasn't really like now, ponies weren't all that interested in the night sky or the stars and moon. Which really doesn't make sense when you see just how much we can learn from studying the night sky; what with the stars and the other planets out there and all the nebulae and-"

Another 'Hoo' reminded Twilight that she was rambling. "Sorry; where was I? Oh right; Princess Luna was getting jealous since she put some much work into the night sky and no one was interested in appreciating all that hard work. That jealousy twisted her until, at last, she literally refused to let the sun replace the moon one night- so that ponies would be forced to appreciate her work. Princess Celestia confronted her, but she wouldn't listen anymore; she had been corrupted by her own emotions into something she never should have: Nightmare Moon.

"After that, Princess Celestia had no choice but to imprison her in the moon itself with the Elements of Harmony- lest everlasting night reign over Equestria." The young unicorn had slipped into her 'storyteller' mode: using fancier terms and speaking like she was narrating a book to the owl. While there was nothing wrong with this, he would have liked that she get to the point. "One thousand years passed; then Nightmare Moon escaped with the aid of the stars and trapped Princess Celestia away while her night ruled. The others and I were able to use the Elements of Harmony again- learning of our own connection with them- and freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon and released Princess Celestia."

Twilight had to pause for breath here, the young mare having not really done all that much during the story. Owlowicious just stared at her, tilting his head as if confused by something, and she was well aware of what. "I know, that seems like Nightmare Moon's gone. But I saw something; while everypony was busy with admiring their necklaces or welcoming the princesses back, there was some armor where Nightmare Moon had been and it faded away into some blue smoke. That blue smoke was always around Nightmare Moon, she even turned into it at times. That _can't_ just be a coincidence.

"I know that it's not anything solid- which is why I haven't told anyone- but I can't shake the feeling that whatever that was is something that could come back. Even if Princess Luna was jealous, she had to have something that pushed her over the edge and brought about Nightmare Moon. And that's why I'm looking through every legend, every story and every account I can find of what happened a thousand years ago. But the only things I've been able to find are just various versions of the 'Mare in the Moon' legend; and I already know that story by heart!" She stamped her hoof down in frustration, then paled as Spike stirred and quickly blew out the candle.

She waited, holding her breath as the baby dragon shifted about in his bed. She released it after he stilled and her horn sparked for a moment to re-ignite the tiny flame.

"I can't just go to Princess Celestia with just a hunch; and Princess Luna's been having so much trouble as is, I can't make it harder by starting rumors about Nightmare Moon. Ponies'll just blame her for it without even trying to find the real problem. You have to promise me that you'll never tell anyone what I'm doing."

Owlowicious blinked his beady eyes at the pleading unicorn mare before him. Though at least as intelligent as any given pony- and perhaps more so than a few- his face was almost always as flat and inexpressive as your average wild animal. Twilight waited anxiously for him to respond, as he theoretically held the entire future of her research in his wings. But the brown owl finally nodded and the purple unicorn sighed in relief. "Thank you, Owlowicious. I know that it's bad to keep things from your friends, but this is just one of those secrets that needs to be kept."

With a yawn, the tiredness that had been staved off by her tension while talking to her number two assistant suddenly came rushing back. She was tired so very... very... Twilight Sparkle passed out in mid thought, her head thumping lightly on the pages of the open book in front of her. Owlowicious, with nothing else to do for the night, fluttered up to his usual perch by the window and gazed up at the full moon.

For the first time he could remember, the sight of the pearly orb in the sky gave him no comfort.


	2. Chapter 1: The Beginning

At times, it was easy to forget just how big Ponyville actually was.

It was rather large as far as towns went- maybe not as big as a city, but still bigger than you'd expect a town like this to be. At least a third of that was taken up by Sweet Apple Acres' orchard admittedly, but that fact made the town no less impressive. But what really made a pony forget the size of this not so small town was the fact that eveypony was just so neighborly to one another. People would just come up and talk to you out of the blue, like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

It had been something of a shock to Rarity when she'd first moved here. Coming from the city as she had, she was used to ponies either ignoring people around them or 'socializing' in parties were everyone had to put on an air of being far more important than they actually were. For all her complaining about the rural life and the general lack of culture, she enjoyed that lack of- as Applejack put it- 'Frou-Frou' attitude.

That said, when she found times that she could find a way to relive some of the benefits of city life, she would gladly accept.

"Mmm, oh! Ah yes, right there." The white unicorn moaned as Lotus kneaded her between the shoulders with her hooves. "Oh Lotus, you always know exactly how to work out those hard to get kinks."

"My pleasure." The teal-colored Earth Pony smiled at one of her more regular costumers. "You really should get some of your friends in here more often; I've seen them around town, they could use a good massage."

"Don't I know it." Rarity sighed out. "But between Twilight being couped up in that library of hers, Dash and AJ refusing to act even a little like ladies and Pinkie being... well, Pinkie, Fluttershy's the only pony I can even get to come in here on a semi-regular basis." She glanced over at her companion; the yellow pegasus was currently sitting in a mineral bath, dozing from the heat and her own tiredness. Rarity had requested that the sisters leave her alone for the moment; since she was always working herself far beyond her limit to care for all the animals in Ponyville, she needed all the rest she could get.

Aloe soon came to take over for her twin sister, as they had just received a delivery of some soaps and she needed to sign for it. Though it was only for a short time, as the wall to the spa suddenly shook from an impact. Fluttershy started awake while Rarity merely sighed through her snout. That mare had an incredible ability to crash when she was either wanted, or just mentioned.

"Sorry!" The sky-blue pegasus sheepishly poked her head in through one of the windows as Aloe just stared, dumbfounded. "Yeah..." She rubbed at her rainbow-colored mane with her hoof as her eyes made sure not to actually look at anypony. "I was trying a new trick and I sorta... messed up the third barrel roll." She gave a nervous chuckle and a highly forced smile as the pink spa pony glared at her, joined by Rarity. "Ohhhhhhh-kay then," she said as she started to slowly hover away. "I guess I'll just be going now."

"w-wait." Fluttershy's voice was barely above a whisper, but her friends had learned to compensate to the point that it was less careful listening than a subconscious habit. The timid pegasus lowered her gaze to the water she still lay in as the eyes of those present turned to her. "Are... are you going by Twilight's house?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head slightly in confusion, then simply nodded. Her house was mostly on the edge of town, and Twilight's library was more or less in that direction. "I have to return a book to her; it's over there in my saddle bags." Her ears went low as she tried to appear even smaller than she had been trying. "I mean... if it's not too much trouble."

In a flash, Dash was by the appropriately marked bags and looking through them. Not more than two seconds later, she pulled out a fairly thick book. "'Pet Care and Pampering by Ceaser Manelan'?" Both the rainbow maned pegasus and the fashionista unicorn looked at their friend with slightly confused expressions as she blushed in embarrassment.

"Well, you know; sometimes, it's nice to get a second opinion."

There was a bit of a silence, coupled with Fluttershy trying to shrink away into nothing to the best of her ability, before Dash finally shrugged. "Whatever, I'm off. Later you two." There was a streak of rainbow out of the open window and a slight breeze in her wake, and the room suddenly lacked any sign of the pegasus ever having been there.

That streak of multicolored light- that only she could pull off- tore through the skies over Ponyville. Clouds that got in her way were either left with holes in their center or outright poofed out of existence, she could multitask with doing her job and running an errand like any good weather team pegasus. Though she made sure none of the water that came from those dissipated clouds soaked into the book she carried; though Twilight Sparkle could give the most boring lectures about stuff that held no interest to her, Dash knew how she was when it came to books and couldn't do something like that to her friend.

The rainbow finally stopped in front of the library, Dash knocking on the door as she hovered in place. "Hey, Twilight!" She called as her hoof tapped. "Got a book for ya from Fluttershy!" After that, she just waited.

...and waited.

...and waited.

Never being one who stood still if she had a choice, Rainbow Dash tried the handled then grunted in frustration when she found it locked and shot around to one of the windows. Glaring inside, her violet eyes scanned the room for her unicorn friend, or at least her dragon assistant since the owl was asleep by now.

_I KNOW you're in there._ She angled herself to try and get as full a view of the library as possible. _You're never anywhere else at this hour._ Finally, the pegasus set her eyes on her bookish friend; and- ironically enough- the unicorn was mirroring a pose she'd often had in school: Face flat against a book, passed out. "Twilight! Hey, Twilight!" She tried to get her attention by shouting through the window, but to no avail. Tapping on the glass with her hoof only made her friend stir slightly and she didn't want to break it by hitting any harder. So she inhaled deeply, and let out her loudest bellow.

"**HEY, EGGHEAD! WAKE UP!"**

The Unicorn jumped to her hooves in a second, flailing wildly and knocking over several books in the process. She looked around with eyes that were glazed from sleep and unfocused in fright. It was only after several moments of incessant tapping on her window that Rainbow finally brought her to her senses. The pegasus pointed toward the door that had impeded her earlier, still outright glaring at Twilight over the incident.

As she trotted sleepily over to the door, Rainbow Dash shot around the side in the blink of an eye and was there to greet her before the door opened. The unicorn barely managed to get the 'w' out of the 'what?' she had been about to say before she found a book stuffed into her mouth. "That's Fluttershy's, she asked me to return it on my way home." If her expression had gone over Twilight's head before, it was now painfully clear that Dash was exceedingly miffed over having been made to wait.

The pegasus turned to leave in a huff, before she was held up in a much more gentle manner than usual.

"Wait." Twilight Sparkle sighed, holding in a yawn from a body that hadn't been sleeping well for a while. "I'm s-sooooor-ah." Apparently, that yawn was a particularly persistent one. "Sorry," she finally managed to say clearly. "I knew Fluttershy was going to return the book today, but I didn't expect her by until a lot later."

The unicorn looked up to see that her friend still had her back to her and her ears lowered, afraid she might have done something that Dash just wasn't going to overlook for a while. Only to suddenly find herself swept up in a noogie from her not a moment later. "Okay, Egghead; I forgive you." She said with a chuckle as she let her go. Twilight joined in with the laugh, levitating a comb over to fix her mane as Fluttershy's book was placed over in the section of shelves dedicated to animals.

"Thanks for returning it, and I'm sorry I didn't open the door when you knocked."

Waving a hoof, Dash brushed off her friend's concern. "Nah, don't worry about it. Just try not to do it again." She jumped off and was zipping away with one final comment left hanging in the air behind her. "Enjoy your beauty sleep, Egghead."

Chuckling almost the entire way home, the pegasus finally settled down as she alighted on her self-made cloud home. Though she had nothing against Earth Ponies and Unicorns, or even other pegasi like Fluttershy who preferred to live on the ground, she could never have gotten used to having something so utterly unyielding under her hooves as she slept. Clouds bounced with each step, rocked in the breeze and had a life all their own even on the calmest of days. It was why she'd be so adamant about building this thing and even spent much more than a pretty bit on ordering some cloud architecture all the way from Cloudsdale.

And it was worth all the time, money and effort she'd put into making it.

Sighing as she flopped onto her couch, Dash looked around at the various Wonderbolt posters that she'd stuck to her walls with a proud smile. Her dream of joining them just seemed to grow ever more likely as the days went by; her skills in the sky were getting better, to the point that she hardly crashed on a regular basis. Not to mention that her tricks were getting ever more complex each time; and she'd even recruited some of her Weather Team friends to try some formation work. It wasn't as awesome as it could have been, but she was reasonably confident in the results she was seeing.

Her gaze panned over to her- rather crowded- trophy case and she could almost feel the sensation of her ego growing. Trophies that were even taller than herself dominated the display and at least thirty medals with varying places- nothing less than third- were haphazardly placed around them. But the things that Rainbow considered some of the best pieces on this display case: The various pictures of herself and her friends.

It wasn't that she considered her friends trophies, it was just that she considered them just as important as her own achievements; they were something to be proud of in her mind, and she was very proud to call these crazy ponies her friends.

An image of Pinkie Pie and herself posing with an Applejack who had various designs and colored streaks covering her brought a slight laugh from Rainbow, the mere memory of the incident still amusing. Another photo was her and Rarity, the latter wearing the 'helmet' of her attempt at trying to make something for the Gala and the former wearing the unicorn's glasses while gesturing pompously. It still impressed her that Rarity had agreed to this, even had a sense of humor about the whole thing when the creation had been part of her lowest point in fashion. Then there was her and Fluttershy, the picture taken back when they were both fillies. Just the pair of them on the cloud equivalent of a beach, complete with pails and shovels; Ditzy Doo- another old friend of hers- was sticking her head through a tiny cloudcastle and saying 'Your Princess is in another castle' if she remembered correctly. She didn't know what that meant, but it was par for the course with Ditzy.

Next came one of the more recent pictures, one of her and Twilight in a bookstore. This one had just been Pinkie messing around and taking one by accident, but she'd decided to keep it anyway. It showed a very bored looking Rainbow Dash leaning against a while while Twilight did a spot on impression of the town party pony, hopping around with glee at all the new books that she was finding even as she held five with her telekinesis.

She was about to start laughing at the memory when something clicked. She'd seen how Twilight was around books, been chewed out by her from time to time when the books she'd borrowed came back a bit worse for wear and nearly seen her burst into flames when it looked like she'd lost the unicorns favorite book. If there was one thing you could say about miss Twilight Sparkle, it was that she treated books like Fluttershy treated animals.

So why had she been asleep on one when Rainbow Dash had showed up?

For that matter, what was she doing asleep anyway? That mare had gotten up with the sun for as long as Dash had known her, even earlier sometimes when she had stuff to do. She kept a tight schedule about everything, sleeping included; there was no reason for her to have suddenly stopped sticking to it. There wasn't anything planned that she'd heard of, and Twilight would have excitedly told them about any late night events that Princess Luna had set up. Yet the unicorn had been silent about anything that she was doing and hadn't given much of an explanation when Dash had dropped by.

Something was up, that was the only thing that made sense. But Twilight hadn't seen fit to tell them anything; but what could be so important that she had to keep it a secret?

Rainbow Dash couldn't even begin to guess, so she'd go to the source herself and directly ask her. But when she left her home again, it wasn't to speed off toward the library again. She had to make a quick stop to visit another friend first.

Who better to tell if someone was lying than the Element of Honesty herself?


	3. Chapter 2: Interlude

While a rainbow streaked through the sky overhead, a rather unique looking unicorn sat looking up in confusion; even though her eyes were hidden by the violet lens of her sunglasses.

Vinyl Scratch shook her head, tossing her blue mane about and rubbing around her horn as she felt something of a headache coming on from sitting in the sun for so long. One of her few friends had equated her to the vampires in old ponytales: pale with red eyes and about as comfortable during the day as they were. Somewhere along the line, about the time she'd actually started her DJ career, her sleep schedule had changed so that she was rarely up before six in the afternoon; the sun rising was usually her cue to call it a day and sleep away until either the late afternoon or the sunset.

Which begged the question: What was she doing out in Ponyville Park in the middle of the day?

It wasn't really that tough an answer. She was meeting with a mare very dear to her heart- more-so than the mare herself knew really. There were only a hoofful of ponies she would drag herself into the daylight world for, and Octavia was one of them. Even through the tinted lenses, she found herself just staring at the grey Earth Pony; and- for whatever reason- musing that she looked far older than she was. Maybe it was the partially grey mane, maybe it was the air of maturity she projected, maybe it was just the fact that she acted it: but Octavia just looked about 30 years her senior instead of 3.

That was, until you looked into her eyes.

The mare's violet eyes held a sparkle of youth and energy that you simply couldn't fake. They weren't tired, like the eyes of someone who had lived and seen it all, they were the eyes of a young mare who was still ready to learn and be surprised. A pony could get lost staring into those eyes- just as she was right now- and the lack of sleep didn't help her focus one bit.

"Vinyl!" The musician snapped, bringing her out of her daydream abruptly. "Are you even _listening_ to me?"

The unicorn blinked a few times as she shook her head. "Sorry, Octy; spaced out there for a bit." It wasn't far from the truth anyway, and much less embarrassing. "Not used to being up and about now."

The cellist rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Vinyl, you need to sleep more."

"I sleep just fine," she snapped back, glaring from behind her sunglasses. "I would be asleep right now if you hadn't insisted I meet you at this insane hour."

Octavia scoffed. "Two o'clock in the afternoon is _hardly_ an unreasonable time. Maybe if you kept decent hours, you'd actually be awake during the day."

"What kinda raves happen in the day?"

"Ugh! You're utterly impossible!" Octavia looked about ready to just give up and walk away from the whole thing, only for Vinyl to suddenly touch one of her own hooves against the musician's.

"Look, I'm sorry okay?" The DJ had decided to use one of her rare apologies for the day, seeing as how it was getting pretty clear Octavia wasn't having all that good a day herself. "I'm not really a day person, and... you're kinda right, I haven't been sleeping all that good lately."

The Earth Pony looked at her friend in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Not sure." Vinyl admitted with a shrug. "I mean; I've gone to bed about four or five in the morning and woken up about ten feeling even more tired than I was when I went to bed." Her hooves rubbed at the side her her head, sighing in her frustration. "It's been on and off for about a week; starting to get on my nerves."

Octavia bit her lower lip in mild concern. "Well... maybe you should go see a doctor or someth-"

"I _did_ see a doctor." She was interrupted by the exasperated unicorn. "Two, actually. One accused me of taking something I shouldn't be... I'm not allowed within five hundred pony-lengths of him now."

Another sigh from Octavia. "And... the other?"

"Couldn't give me anything outside of some sleeping pills; he said there wasn't anything physically wrong with me, but he also said I should talk to a shrink." Vinyl scoffed. "Can you imagine it? Me, on one of those couches while he asks me to talk about my childhood."

"You're crazy enough that you could do with a visit or ten." The musician muttered.

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Octy."

"Well; _something_ is obviously wrong." She shot back. "It's even more abnormal than everything else about you."

Vinyl held in a retort of her own; as much as she would have liked to disagree- that just being the kind of pony she was- actually arguing with Octavia over a point she partially agreed with was just pointless to her. Plus, there was the simple fact that she was right: Something _was_ wrong.

And not just in the 'I'm not sleeping well' way; she'd dealt with Insomnia before, she knew what it felt like to just be tired from a lack of sleep. But this, this was something else entirely; and it made her more than a little uneasy. She honestly couldn't think this was a stress related or psychological thing; she hadn't been stressed until this entire thing had started, and the biggest dilemma she'd dealt with for a while now was what to have for her next meal. Despite what most ponies said about her, Vinyl did have a method to her madness and this wasn't a part of it. It honestly scared her more than she was willing to admit.

Doing her best to chase such thoughts from her mind, she turned the conversation back toward it's original purpose. "So... what did you drag me away from my bed to tell me anyway?"

Octavia, suddenly unable to even meet her friend's gaze through the sunglasses, fidgeted slightly in her seat. "Shouldn't you be a bit more concerned with what's happening with your sleep? I mean; it can't be-"

"I do enough thinking about myself as is," Vinyl waved off her friend's worries with something of a joke. "Just tell me."

The Earth Pony continued to fidget and, right then and there, Vinyl knew she wasn't going to like what her friend had to say. "I was offered a chance to play in Aerie."

Behind her sunglasses, Vinyl blinked in shock. "That griffon country?" A nod from her friend. "Isn't that a bit dangerous? I mean... they're _griffons _after all..."

Octavia's jaw dropped in shock at what her friend just said. "Vinyl, I'm surprised; you, of all ponies!"

"Come on, you saw how much trouble that one caused a few months ago," the unicorn defended. "And you _know_ how griffons are after all."

"I know how some ponies _say_ they are," Octavia snapped back, glaring at her friend. "I also know how some ponies _say_ that you're a sociopath who likes to burn down buildings."

"That was an ACCIDENT!" Vinyl was suddenly standing on her front hooves on the table and shouting so loud that everypony in the vicinity had turned their heads toward her. The unicorn heedlessly stood there, panting angrily as she glared at her rather calm friend. Several moments passed before she sat back down and the rest of the crowd went back to whatever that had been doing previously.

"See how it feels?" Octavia asked, the only one who seemed to be taking what had happened in stride. "Getting labeled for something you had no control over?"

Vinyl only grumbled, her head hung low. "But, did you have to mention _that_ incident?"

Octavia only shrugged. "It's about the only thing that you seem to be the slightest bit self-conscious about, you have to expect it to come up from time to time. Though- for the record- I'm sorry I had to bring it up; but you get the point, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." The unicorn grumbled. "Still; watch yourself for me, would ya? I really don't want you to get hurt."

Octavia chuckled, reaching out a hoof to ruffle Vinyl's already chaotic mane. "Yeah, I know. And I appreciate it, you crazy pony." The grey mare sighed, dropping her hooves down to the ground as she looked around awkwardly. "Well... that's pretty much what I wanted to tell you."

"I take it you're leaving now; since you decided to meet me in a park than a cafe or something." She winced slightly at Vinyl's blunt summation of the situation, but nodded anyway. "Well, then I guess I'll see you when you get back." And- with that- the unicorn DJ stood back up and set her hooves toward her home.

Octavia sighed, watching her friend go as her conscience started to throb in the back of her head. As one of the few ponies who could understand Vinyl's moods and mannerisms, she could tell the crazy mare wasn't taking this as well as her current attitude suggested. Plus, it just seemed like a bad thing to leave her alone when there was clearly something wrong with her; but the practical portion of her reminded her of her duty to her ensemble. The chance they had been given was too good to pass up and simply didn't come along very often in life. As much as she wanted to stay and make sure that her best friend was okay, she still had other responsibilities.

With a sigh, the cellist set her hooves to the road that would take her back to Canterlot. Princess Celestia had been kind enough to lend the four of them a flying chariot to make the journey much faster than they would have normally, but it meant that they had to all be in the city tomorrow morning to use it.

So wrapped up was Octavia in her own thoughts, she failed to think twice about the golden yellow pegasus that brushed against her as she left town. Nor did she notice several other ponies on the path suddenly questioning where some valuables had disappeared to.


End file.
